The morning after Elmer went down from the mountain, work in Rue Village resumed as usual.
I don't know what kind of reply will come from the manor.
But that didn't mean they could stop farming and gathering firewood and wait until then.
On the flat area of the mountainside too, work continued to turn the soil in the corner that could be used.
Just because the water had been drawn didn't mean it would immediately become a field. There were still many stones and roots in the ground. The villagers were removing them little by little with hoes and hatchets.
I was flying above them.
My body had gotten used to the short flights I'd been making since becoming a Juvenile Dragon.
Magical power flowed from deep within my chest to both wings.
When my body became slightly lighter, I beat my wings and rode the air rising from the slope.
I was simply staying aloft, no longer desperate as I had been at the beginning.
I was still bad at sudden changes of direction, but I had become able to look around easily between the village and the mountainside.
My right hind leg didn't really bother me when I walked or ran normally.
The people who had been out on the mountainside since morning were Dario, two villagers, and — from among the eight who had fled from the other side of the mountain — a man with experience working fields.
I watched the sky.
Dario watched the ground.
It wasn't a special arrangement, but ever since I had become able to fly, things had naturally turned out that way.
"Let's get this stone out."
I heard a voice from below.
Two of them were levering bars under a stone buried in the soil.
It wasn't big enough for me to help with.
A little further on, the man who had fled here was checking the flow of the water.
"We should shave this down a little more."
"Has the water stopped?"
"No. It's flowing, but if it stays like this, the ground will collapse."
The humans worked while they talked.
I circled the sky once.
Then the trees on the slope shook.
For a moment I thought nothing of it.
However, a branch moved beside it.
A little further away as well, a large mass of leaves dipped down.
It didn't match the wind direction.
I lost a little altitude.
Rather than going into the forest, I looked from above the flat ground.
Something crossed along a branch.
A greyish back.
Long arms.
Although it was smaller than a human, its body was incomparably thicker than an ordinary monkey's.
It hung from one branch and used the recoil to swing to the next tree.
There was another in a different tree.
A shadow moved behind that one as well.
I stopped turning.
That's them.
It was the first time I had seen one, but it matched the account of the eight who came from across the mountain.
Rock Apes.
Why were they here?
The village they had driven out couldn't have been right beside this mountainside.
At least, I hadn't heard of them coming out as far as the places the people of Rue Village normally used.
I immediately descended to the ground.
I landed a little away from Dario and folded my wings.
"What happened?"
Instead of replying, I looked up at the slope.
I growled low in my throat.
"Is something up there?"
I nodded.
I moved my front legs as if they were long arms and pointed towards the trees.
Dario thought for a moment.
"Monkeys?"
I nodded again.
The man who had fled here heard the voices and turned round.
"You can't mean—"
I stared at the slope without moving.
The branches swayed again.
This time the humans could see it too.
"That's…"
The man's face stiffened.
"Rock Apes."
Dario picked up his bow.
"How many are there?"
I drew three lines on the ground with the claws of my front leg.
After that, I turned my head towards the forest.
"Those are the three you saw?"
I nodded.
"Is that all of them?"
I don't know that.
I didn't nod, and looked at the forest.
It seemed Dario noticed right away.
"You don't know?"
That’s right.
I saw three.
Whether there were more than that hadn't been confirmed.
"Gather the tools."
Dario said to the other men.
"We're going down for today."
"We've come this far—"
"They throw stones, don't they?"
He looked at the man who had fled here.
"Yeah."
The reply was quick.
"They even threw them from the roofs. It's better not to let them get close."
"Then it's decided."
The humans began to pack up their hoes and hatchets.
I also kept my head turned towards the slope.
Should I drive them off?
I thought about it for a moment, then decided against it.
I didn't know the number or the strength of my opponents.
It was better to get the humans back safely.
But the Rock Apes didn't wait.
“Val!”
Almost at the same time as Dario's voice, a grey shadow moved above the trees.
An arm swung.
A stone came flying.
I jumped to the side.
A stone bigger than a fist fell where I had been a moment before.
The soil burst.
“Get down!”
Dario pushed the men towards the lower side of the field.
Another stone flew.
This time at the humans.
I spread my wings.
I sent magical power through them and kicked the ground.
My body floated.
I went straight into the space between the stone-thrower and the men.
A stone passed beneath me.
"Gah, gah!"
A high-pitched voice rose from the top of the tree.
Now that I was out in the open sky, the Rock Apes' eyes turned towards me.
Their aim had changed.
That was fine.
I didn't go high.
I crossed a little above the treetops and immediately turned towards the slope.
A Rock Ape turned its body towards me.
One of them threw a stone.
It was probably aiming at me in flight, but perhaps because the distance and height kept changing, it wasn't as accurate as when aiming at the ground.
The stone fell behind me.
It threw another.
I tilted my wings and shifted my course.
A stone passed right by.
It would hurt if one hit.
I had no desire to test whether my scales would be enough.
"Val, don't push it!"
Dario's voice came from below.
The humans had already moved below the flat ground.
After confirming that, I pulled back as well.
There was no need to defeat the Rock Apes.
As I drew a large arc in the air and put distance between us, one of them climbed further up the branch.
They didn't come after me.
I didn't know whether they were driving intruders out of their territory, or simply throwing stones at anything that came close.
I went down to where the humans were.
I landed and ran a few steps.
There was a heaviness in my chest, but I still had something left.
"Anyone hurt?"
Dario looked at the men.
"No."
"This one's fine too."
The man who had fled here was unhurt as well.
No stone had hit me either.
One hoe was left behind on the flat ground, but that was cheaper than a single person's injury.
“Let’s go back.”
Dario said.
No one objected.
We started down towards the village.
I took the last position.
I didn't fly.
If something came out of the forest, being on the ground put me where I would notice it first.
After walking a little further, I heard a dry sound from behind.
I looked back.
A stone had fallen near the hoe that had been left on the flat ground.
The Rock Apes were still there.
However, they didn't seem to be following us.
On the way back to the village, the man who had fled here spoke just once.
"At first, we only saw a few of them out in the fields."
Dario turned round.
"And after that they increased?"
"Yeah."
The man said no more.
That was enough.
It didn't necessarily mean the same thing would happen.
However, it wasn't a story that could be ignored.
When we arrived at the village, people gathered quickly, because those who had been working on the mountainside had returned early.
"Rock Apes?"
The village chief asked back.
"I saw three of them."
Dario answered.
"I don't know if there are more. They threw stones, so I stopped the work."
"Anyone injured?"
"None."
The village chief’s face relaxed a little.
"What about the waterway?"
"We left it for today."
“That’s fine.”
It was an immediate answer.
"There's no need for anyone to get hurt over land that isn't even a field yet."
The story was also passed on to the eight people who had come from the other side of the mountain.
The expressions of the adults listening near the storeroom were dark.
One of the children was clutching the clothes of a woman who seemed to be his mother.
"They've come this far…"
Someone muttered.
The village chief immediately stopped the work on the mountainside.
However, the whole village would not be shut up.
That was because the places where people went for firewood and the areas where they took out the livestock weren't all the same.
"If you go out towards the mountainside, don't go alone. I'll tell the guards as well."
Dario nodded.
"I'll check in the mornings too."
Then the village chief turned his attention to me.
"Val."
I looked up as well.
"Since you can fly — could you take a look at the mountainside from above tomorrow morning?"
I nodded.
That, I could do now.
I wasn't told to fight the Rock Apes.
Where were they?
How many of them were moving?
That was all that needed confirming before humans went into the mountain.
"Even if you find them, don't get too close."
Dario said.
I know.
"You pulled back properly today. Just saying it to be sure."
That's uncalled for.
When I snorted, Lina laughed a little.
"It would hurt Val too, if a stone hit him."
Of course.
I became a dragon, not a rock.
By evening, word had gone round to everyone who went out towards the mountainside.
A simple sign was also placed on the road leading to the flat area on the mountainside, to let people know that work was stopped.
One hoe remained up there.
It would only be fetched after the Rock Apes' movements had been checked.
The next morning, I would fly before the villagers went up to the mountainside.
That was all the village chief decided.
It hadn't been decided yet whether to exterminate the Rock Apes, or to go and look at the village on the other side of the mountain.
All that was known now was that the magical beasts which drove out those eight people had come to the mountainside Rue Village was trying to make use of.
When the sun was setting, I returned to my den outside the village.
I folded my wings and looked towards the mountains.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll see it from above.
Until now, the villagers would go into the mountain first, and if there was danger, I would help them.
This time, I'll look before letting the humans in.
It was decided that the next morning's work in the mountains would not begin until that was finished.
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